Clue
by Kawaii Yoshi
Summary: Six suspects, six weapons, six places. A series of short mysteries in which you, that's right, you the reader have to figure out whodunit. Based off the mystery series Clue by AE Parker.
1. Allow me to introduce myself

Disclaimer: Clue and Naruto are owned by A.E. Parker and Masashi Kishimoto, respectively.

Warning: May have horrible puns/humor on the author's part. Please excuse them. Also OOC, as we all well know that none of the main characters in Naruto will commit such grisly crimes! Well maybe…except Sasuke.

**I have read the TOS and the writer's FAQ, and there has been nothing stated there that could render this story as not acceptable to the fanfiction archives. If it is not acceptable under any reason, then feel free to delete the story.**

**Clue  
a series of Naruto mystery stories by Kawaii Yoshi**

Welcome, readers, to Clue. Clue is an interactive story, as you will read in the rules below (as I HOPE you will read in the rules below). Please sit down, relax, and enjoy your stay. Unless of course, you must take a stand to solve a crime someone has committed!

**Author's note AND the RULES (please READ!): **

After re-reading the Clue books again, and watching too much Naruto, this crazy yet fitting idea came to me. Why not put Naruto characters in a Clue situation?

For those who have never read Clue or haven't a clue as to what Clue is, it is a series of books, each having about 10-12 short mysteries in them. The books are also based on Clue: The board game. At the end of each short mystery, given the clues that you have just read, you are asked a question about whodunit. And you are to guess what person committed the crime, where the person committed it, and what the person committed it with (the weapon). Each character had his or her own special little trait to help along with the clues. Anyway, Clue (this fiction) will feature a few short mysteries centering on our favorite Naruto characters. Shortly, I will introduce the cast of characters that will be appearing and their list of traits (as mentioned above, traits help the mystery come together). I will also introduce the weapons that will be used, and the places.

After each mystery, I will ask a question, and you all must answer it with or without a review, it does not matter. What does matter is that you, the reader, have fun with this, because I know I will have fun writing it. I will post up the mystery chapter, and after a week, I will post up the answer in the next chapter along with details as to what happened, why it happened, etc. If you do leave your answer in a review, I will add your name to the answer chapter as a prize for getting it correct. Hey, I can't very well give out real prizes, can I? Anyway, after I post the answer chapter, I will post another new short mystery for you all to figure out. I am not sure as to how long this story will continue, but be assured that when it is coming to an end, I will inform you all.

**Kudos to all of you who read the rules (and shame on you if you didn't!**** I don't want anybody being confused by the format of this fiction).** Without further adieu, I will now introduce the cast of characters (AKA the suspects). Keep in mind that there will ALWAYS be SIX suspects, and that Team 7 (Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke) will ALWAYS be part of the list of suspects. Every short mystery will feature Team 7 and another team of three. I will introduce the character traits of the other three as the stories are posted.

Please feel free to refer back to the list of suspects when you wish to know one of their traits. **A character in the story will NOT always be referred to by their name.**

**List of Suspects:**

Naruto: Naruto is the loud, boisterous boy of Team 7. He is always complaining about…practically everything that irks him. He has a passion for two things: his will to become the Hokage and his love for ramen. He will not tolerate anything…or anyone, who stands in his way of those two things. Of course, he has a tiny crush on Sakura as well, but Hokage and ramen are his two choices for first and second place. His desired color is orange and his summon is the frog.

Sasuke: The silent, mysterious type. Sasuke rarely talks, and when he does, it is to shut Naruto up or tell Sakura to leave him be. Most of his rage, however, is directed towards his brother, Itachi, who killed his clan a few years ago. When his fan girls are not chasing him, he enjoys a nice, quiet, evening…alone. He hates many things; but mostly Itachi and his fangirls. His eyes are "special"; special with the Sharingan. His desired color is blue and his summon is the snake.

Sakura: Sakura, the girl of Team 7. With her newfound crazy strength she doesn't need weapons to kill! However, she hates using her strength for murder. She'd much rather use a weapon. Sakura has quite a double personality as well. Her love for her "Sasuke-kun" exceeds all. Her desired color is pink and her summon is the slug.

**List of Weapons (and the occasional jutsu): **

Kunai: It's shiny, it's black, it's sharp. The knife-like weapon, the kunai can pierce through anything if used correctly.

Shuriken: A metal ring with spikes. Throw it like a Frisbee and you've got yourself one heck of a good weapon.

Senbon: Thin silver needles that throw, stab, use as chopsticks, etc.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: The summoning technique. All suspects have their very own animal to summon; that's right, a drop of blood to shed some blood.

Exploding Note: It's just a piece of paper; the worst thing it can do is give me a paper cut, right? Wrong. BOOM and you're dead.

Special Jutsu: Of course, every character has their very own special jutsu (except Sakura…damn) to show off. What are they? If you watch or read the Naruto series, you'd know! But don't worry; each character only has ONE special jutsu (featured in this story). And when you figure it out, then great job!

**List of Places:**

The list of places will be scattered around Konoha. The crime will never take place at one's house. EXCEPT the Uchiha Complex because it's now deserted.

Ichiraku Ramen: Naruto's favorite ramen stand. He'd KILL for ramen, of course.

The Hokage's office: Who would be stupid enough to commit a crime at the Hokage's own office? Well we'll just have to see, won't we?

Uchiha Complex: Many people have died here, why not a few more?

KonohaHospital: Haha, you're kidding right? No, I'm DEAD serious. Literally.

Hokage Monuments: It must be wrong to commit a crime at the monument of their forefathers. Unfortunately, the suspects don't know that.

Memorial Block: All the names of the ones who died for Konoha are on this slab of stone. Who's next?

REMEMBER, after each story will be a question, and you, the reader, will answer WHO did it, with WHAT WEAPON they did it with, and WHERE they committed the crime. UNLESS of course, the question only calls for one or two of the above. If you're confused by the characters, weapons, or places, again, feel free to refer to this page!

On that note, let us begin, shall we?

**The First Mystery: The Trouble with Teuchi**


	2. Mystery 1: The Trouble with Teuchi

**NOTE**: **I've made a vital error…I've been accidentally calling the member from Team 8 a member from Team 10, throwing off the entire answer. Gah! I'm very sorry about this! I have fixed it all. THANK YOU Kakashigurl20 for making me realize my mistake.**

**Featured suspects of this chapter (don't forget, Team 7 is always counted as suspects as well):**

Kiba: The dog-lover. He and his buddy Akamaru are great troublemakers and great partners in crime as well. He hates being bossed around. His desired color is red and his summon is a black cat. No, really. Akamaru certainly hates it when Kiba summons.

Shino: Mr. Bug Boy. He serves as a motel for insects. Shino, much like Sasuke, is a quiet person who does not mind being alone. In fact, he hates being around loud guys like Naruto and Kiba; it annoys him a great deal. Poor Shino does not have any fan girls. I wonder why? His desired color is gray and his summon is a giant roach. Yeesh.

Hinata: The shy girl. And Naruto stalker. Her crush for Naruto is blatantly obvious, but of course, Naruto doesn't know that. She tends to stutter around her Naruto-kun. She hates those who take the attention of Naruto away from her, but she doesn't show it. Instead, she plots evilly in her mind about how to get back at the person. Her desired color is purple and her summon is a bird.

**Mystery #1: The Trouble with Teuchi**

Naruto grinned smugly as he dipped his Senbon back into his ramen. Using the Senbon as chopsticks, he hungrily slurped them up, the grin still on his face.

"Hey, Naruto, you know it's dangerous to eat with Senbon, right?" a female voice said, interrupting his moment with his precious ramen. She twirled her kunai around in her hand skillfully.

Naruto looked slightly annoyed for a few seconds, and then smiled happily when he saw who it was. "Ah! They ran out of chopsticks and Mr. Ichiraku Guy said that they were getting a whole box full tomorrow. I can't live a day without my ramen so I had to do something! Would you like to join me for a bite?" he offered, slurping up more ramen.

The girl flinched as he put his Senbon back into his mouth. "That can't be sanitary," she mumbled under her breath. Then she said out loud, "No thanks, Naruto, I'm not that hungry anyway."

"I'd rather go on a date with Sasuke-kun, after all," she mumbled again. She grinned as wide as Naruto did. "I'll see you later!" she said cheerfully.

After she left, Naruto huffed. "More ramen for me. Mr. Ichiraku Guy, another bowl, please!"

"Naruto, you know my name is Teuchi!" the owner of the Ichiraku shop laughed.

Naruto stared. "But…but…you've never told me your name before! That's why I thought you LIKED to be called Mr. Ichiraku Guy!"

Naruto's protests were interrupted by a bark. Forgetting about the name dilemma, he said, "Kiba! Wanna join me for some ramen?"

"Heh, no, Naruto, I'm just here to buy a quick order for me and my sis." A bark. "Oh, and Akamaru too. Don't worry Akamaru, I was just kidding about forgetting you!"

Naruto nodded, mouth full of ramen. He still hadn't turned around to acknowledge the fact that Kiba was standing behind him. Kiba seemed annoyed by the fact that he was talking to the back of a head, and started giving Naruto bunny ears. Akamaru sniggered.

While he was doing that, he looked up at Teuchi. "Two bowls of pork ramen, please!"

Akamaru barked.

"Yeah, yeah, and throw in a small bowl of beef ramen too. To go, alright?"

As Teuchi turned to fix his order, Kiba sighed as he noticed that Naruto hadn't even noticed that he was putting bunny ears on him. He dropped his hand exasperatedly all the way down to his pockets. He felt a crumpling inside one of his pockets and quickly retreated his hand from it.

After waiting about ten minutes, he sighed again. Kiba was bored. Teuchi was taking forever in filling his order. He would have to find a way to pay the Ichiraku owner back for his impatience. Kiba was sitting on the Ichiraku counter, burying his face in his hands. Akamaru was sitting on his head. "Yo, where's Ayame today?" Kiba asked, his voice muffled. He wanted to know where the extra help was.

"Oh, she's taking the day off. Said she couldn't stand the pressure. I didn't know what of, and when I asked, she just kept quiet and stared at me. I shrugged and let her go for the day," Teuchi said, standing next to a pot of boiling noodles.

Kiba nodded listlessly. Apparently, he was hungry and didn't care. Teuchi had been standing next to that pot of boiling noodles for what seemed like hours. Even though it was only about 15 minutes. He glanced sideways at Naruto who was still chowing down on what seemed to be his tenth bowl. "How does Naruto get ten bowls while I have nothing?" he muttered under his breath.

After another ten minutes, someone else walked in to the small booth. Kiba looked backwards and saw his fellow teammate. "Hey," he said.

"Hello," his teammate said back. Kiba's teammate glanced at the menu. "Teuchi, I would like an order of shrimp ramen."

Naruto practically choked on his Senbon. He coughed many times; thankfully, the Senbon didn't get lodged in his throat. "Mr. Ichiraku Guy, I can't believe you've never told me your name when I'm your best customer!" Naruto started to complain again, remembering what he was protesting about earlier.

Teuchi ignored his complaint and addressed Kiba's teammate instead. "Sorry, we don't have any shrimp today. We're getting more tomorrow, however! If I may, would you like me to make you a chicken, beef, or pork ramen instead?" Teuchi asked, stirring the noodles. Kiba groaned in frustration and whispered to his teammate, "I wouldn't get anything from here if I were you. This guy is taking forever just to boil the noodles!"

However, Kiba's words of caution were left unheard. There was a buzzing in his teammate's ear. Akamaru saw a fly flying around and tried to catch it with his paws.

"I'll take a pork ramen," Kiba's teammate said, sitting on the other side of Naruto, who was still angry at Teuchi for not revealing his name sooner.

Minutes ticked by. Naruto had finally finished his last bowl of ramen…and wanted more.

"Mr. Ichiraku Guy, gimme another bowl, please!" He held out his empty hand, expecting another bowl to appear in it like magic.

Teuchi shook his head. "Sorry Naruto, I have other paying customers too. You'll have to wait until after I get their orders down," the owner said. Naruto sighed in exasperation.

"But I'm hungry now!" he whined.

Meanwhile, Kiba was laughing secretly. "That's what he gets for having ten bowls while I had none!"

More minutes passed by. Then hours.

Kiba groaned in silent frustration as he checked his watch. "It's almost dinner time, damnit!" he said out loud. Or he was about to say out loud when…

"Order up! Two pork and one beef ramen to go! Here you go sir, please come again," Teuchi said, handing the plastic bag to Kiba. Kiba snatched the bag away from Teuchi and stomped home, grumbling angrily to himself.

His teammate, on the other hand, waited patiently. Too patiently. The member of Team 8, who was still sitting next to Naruto, fiddled with a Shuriken, waiting patiently for the order of pork ramen to come up.

Naruto on the other hand tapped his foot, waiting for his next bowl to arrive.

A boy suddenly appeared out of nowhere and sat on the other side of the person from Team 8. The two who were already seated nodded to him in acknowledgement and he nodded back. All of a sudden, something outside of Ichiraku caught Naruto's eye. After waiting all day and not getting any training done at all, he was ready for a spar, not caring if he was starving.

"Hey stupid! Let's spar!" he said jumping out of the booth. "Stupid" rolled his eyes and continued walking. Naruto kept following him and kept bugging him.

Meanwhile, back in the ramen booth, the member of Team 8 seemed frustrated for a few seconds and then decided to leave…without the pork ramen.

When Teuchi turned around a split second later, he saw that all his customers were gone except for the boy who came in last. "Well since everyone left, you can have this pork ramen. Here you go, sir!"

That night…

The member of Team 8 leaned against the tree near Ichiraku ramen, sighing heavily. She then gasped after seeing something out of the corner of her eye. "What was that?"

It seemed to be smaller than she was, but she really couldn't tell. It was running too fast. She also thought it looked to be a darker color. She looked around for a second then stopped. She saw something ELSE out of the corner of her other eye. She narrowed her eyes. Without warning, she threw her shuriken at her designated target, hitting it dead center and causing it to fall.

And at the same time, Ichiraku Ramen exploded in a sudden, fiery burst. The person who was near the tree yelped and ran for cover. But as she did so, she could have sworn she heard someone cackling.

**Who blew up the Ichiraku? With what weapon(s)? Who was the person standing next to the tree and what was the shuriken aimed at?**


	3. Mystery 1 Answer

**NOTE** (if you missed it the first time around): I've made a vital error…I've been accidentally calling the member from Team 8 a member from Team 10, throwing off the entire answer. Gah! I'm very sorry about this! I have fixed it all. THANK YOU Kakashigurl20 for making me realize my mistake.

And yes, the Ichiraku owner's name is Teuchi. I got it from Leaf Ninja dot com, a site that has all the Naruto info I can ever need. lol

**ANSWER**: KIBA blew up ICHIRAKU RAMEN with his KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU. His summon was carrying the EXPLODING NOTE. The person standing next to the tree was HINATA, and her SHURIKEN was aimed at SASUKE.

I would have also taken the answer if you didn't mention that Kiba's summon was carrying the exploding note.

Congratulations for solving this mystery goes to: **roszchan****, Kakashigurl20** (after you changed your answer to Hinata)

In the beginning, we know that Sakura was the girl twirling the kunai around because she had her double personality and her love for Sasuke. She left shortly after so she had no motive for committing the crime. After Kiba came in, the person from his team had to be Hinata; there is a vague clue in where she takes a seat next to Naruto rather than Kiba, but there are stronger clues given later on that the person is indeed Hinata. Later, after Kiba had left, a BOY came in and took a seat next to Hinata. And a few minutes later, Naruto jumps up and challenges "stupid" to a spar. "Stupid" must be Sasuke, because of their interesting rivalry, leaving the boy left in Ichiraku to be Shino. We can also deduct that it is Shino because he dislikes loud people like Naruto, and he sits next to Hinata. Another reason that the person from Team 8 must be Hinata is because she became frustrated after Naruto left, and got up shortly after he did.

Later that night, Hinata is the one standing next to the tree because she is finally referred to as a "she". The dark thing she saw running from the corner of her eye had to be Kiba's summon, the black cat. It couldn't very well be Shino's giant roach because a giant roach would certainly not be stealthy enough to avoid Hinata's eye. After she saw Kiba's summon, she saw something ELSE out of her other eye, and she got frustrated at it, and threw her Shuriken at it. It couldn't have been Kiba's cat again, because she saw something ELSE. But what could have Hinata so frustrated that she'd throw a Shuriken at it?

Sasuke. The Shuriken was aimed at Sasuke because he was the reason why Naruto left Hinata's side earlier in the ramen shop.

Kiba's cat was carrying the Exploding Note, which we knew he had because of the crumpling in his pockets. The cat set it in the Ichiraku, and quickly ran for cover. Kiba couldn't have just waltzed in and set the note himself, because there was no indication that the store was closed. In fact, the Ichiraku is usually seen to be open at night. And he couldn't have asked Akamaru to do it because the two are inseparable, and it would have been obvious.

Fortunately for Teuchi, he smelled something burning right away. After checking it wasn't his ramen, he turned and noticed the Exploding Note. He quickly ducked out of the ramen shop a split second before it blew up.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was fine as well. In fact, he was so surprised by the random Shuriken flying at him that, after he took a moment to recover, he wildly gazed around looking for his attacker, not even sensing who it was. Unfortunately for him, Hinata had run away after the explosion at the Ichiraku, and during the explosion, he quickly forgot about the whole ordeal and his only "injury" was a scratch.

Even more unfortunately for him, since he was standing near the Ichiraku at the scene of the crime, he was accused of blowing it up. But fortunately for him, Teuchi, who saw a suspicious looking black tail walk out of his shop, told the Godaime about it. She automatically pointed her finger at Kiba, who gave her a guilty look. Kiba's sister, who heard about his day at the ramen shop, shook her head in disappointment.

But the most disappointed of all was Naruto. Even when Kiba was assigned to build and help maintain a new Ichiraku shop, Naruto glared at him for months after.

**The Second Mystery: More Cheese, Please!**


	4. Mystery 2: More Cheese, Please

**Featured suspects of this chapter (don't forget, Team 7 is always counted as suspects as well):**

Ino: Every group has to have a loud, boisterous somebody. Ino is that somebody. She likes to think of herself as the leader of Team 10. The boys just go along with it because they know that if they disagree, they'll get bonked on the head. Her long-time rival is Sakura…and they are always competing for Sasuke's attention. Not that he's ever going to give either of them a second thought. Her desired color is yellow and her summon is a boar.

Shikamaru: Smarter than the rest of the rookie 9 put together. Also lazier than the rest of the rookie 9 put together. However, he is able to formulate plans that actually work. He is also the only chuunin in the rookie 9. But although he's a chuunin, he thinks everything to be troublesome. Especially Ino. His desired color is …well it's just too troublesome to tell. But his summon is a deer.

Chouji: Chomping all day, chomping all night, that bag of chips never gets a rest! Big is beautiful! His desired color is tan; the color of potato chips. And his summon is a nice, stout piglet. His piglet and Ino's boar get along pretty well. Unfortunately, that's hardly the case for their summoners.

**Mystery 2: More Cheese, Please!**

Naruto licked his lips hungrily as he chomped down into another slice of cheese that was as big as a slice of pizza. Except it was cheese. 'Neh he he…who cares if Chouji's competing, I got this one beat!' he thought.

That's right…it was Konohakagure's annual cheese festival, and as usual, there was a cheese eating contest going on. Tables were set up near the Memorial Block and most of Konoha was gathered there to watch. The Godaime reluctantly agreed to judge the competition. However, she did not want to count the actual pieces of cheese eaten, so that job was given to none other than Shizune and their pig TonTon. The contest was already well ahead, and it had whittled down to but six contestants: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, and of course, Chouji. The cheese is counted by each round, and the one who eats the fewest slices of cheese is disqualified. In a case of a tie, both (or all, depending on how many are tied) contestants are disqualified, unless of course, it is the final round, and then there would be a tie-breaker.

And as for the finalists…

Naruto was in it for the cheese, and of course, the Hokage was going to be watching him and he would definitely show her that he's Hokage material when he wins this competition. In this round, he had already eaten four slices of cheese.

Sasuke was bribed by his sensei, Kakashi, in to thinking that he would win a new move even more powerful than the famed Chidori…if he won. In the current round, he had already eaten five slices of cheese.

Sakura and Ino were fueled by their rivalry for one another to eat the most cheese. And to impress their Sasuke-kun. Each of them had already eaten three slices of cheese.

Shikamaru's father, Shikato, had once beaten Chomaru, Chouji's father. This set a real burst of pride…and ego…within him. And now, he wants Shikamaru to carry on the family name by beating Chouji in the cheese eating contest. Shikamaru thought it way too troublesome, but Shikato insisted. In fact, Shikato did not let Shikamaru eat any meals for two days straight. And that's why Shikamaru was eating like a starved man…because he was one. In that matter, Shikamaru had already eaten a whopping seven slices of cheese.

Chouji. 'nuff said. Chouji would have eaten the entire block of cheese if not for the rule that stated that only one slice of cheese would be eaten at a time. But because of his gorging of cheese in the earlier rounds, he had miraculously slowed down and was tied with Shikamaru at seven slices of cheese.

The finalists hungrily grabbed more pieces of cheese. The finalist who had eaten four slices had gobbled up three more. So did the finalists who had already eaten three slices.

A finalist who had eaten seven slices calmly used his weapon to slice another block of cheese into pieces. He sighed and lazily set two more pieces on his plate, setting the handle of his weapon down on the table. He nibbled at the first slice. He wasn't feeling all that hungry anymore after the previous five rounds and thought that he could have a small rest while still competing.

Meanwhile, the contestant who was bribed into the competition doubled his cheese count. The second contestant to have seven slices also doubled his cheese count.

The blocks of cheese were slowly depleting.

'Ah, soon there'll be no more to take!' a frustrated contestant said, scratching the back of his blonde head. He shrugged off the thought and continued on his eighth piece of cheese.

"Ino-pig, you eat just like your summon," a contestant said while eating two more slices.

"Oh yeah? You LOOK just like your summon," Ino retorted, two more slices more than the person whom she retorted to.

"My summon is better looking than YOURS," the contestant said back, chomping on another piece of cheese.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!" Ino bit her thumb and performed a few seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" she said, slamming her hand down on the table.

A puff of smoke appeared and for a second, everyone was momentarily blinded. During this time, the contestant who currently had eight slices stole four slices of cheese from Chouji, who was sitting next to him, and set them on his plate. Sasuke stole two from Shikamaru, who was looking annoyed at the girls in front of him. He also set the pieces on his plate.

However, when the smoke cleared, a giant boar sat at their table. It snorted and started to stand up, knocking over a whole, untouched block of cheese in the process. And unfortunately for the two cheaters, half of each of their stolen cheese was also knocked to the floor.

Naruto started to complain. "Ino, you idiot, why'd you have to go and do that for!"

Ino started to argue back with Naruto, while Sakura seized the opportunity to eat three more pieces of cheese. Shikamaru ate two more pieces while Chouji ate one, and Sasuke ate what was left on his plate.

The argument in the middle of the table started to get worse.

And finally…

"Oh yeah? I bet three of me can out-eat your boar! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Two more of the person who just spoke suddenly appeared and all three started to grab the blocks of cheese.

Meanwhile, Tsunade sighed. "Can't these kids even eat cheese properly?" she muttered. Out loud she said, "All right, all right! That's enough. Shizune, tally their scores right now and we'll go on to the next round."

However, before Tsunade made her declaration, and before two clones were created, Naruto had gobbled down the pieces of cheese on his plate while arguing with Ino, who hadn't even thought of eating while arguing.

Everyone suddenly stopped eating their cheese and looked expectantly up at Shizune. She counted the pieces of cheese. And stared blankly at the piece of paper.

"Well, what is it?" Tsunade asked, impatiently.

"Well Godaime-sama…I don't think this has ever happened before," Shizune said, grinning as she held the paper out to the Hokage. TonTon snorted in amusement.

**What is the final cheese count for each contestant? Who's disqualified from going into the next round? **


	5. Mystery 2 Answer

**ANSWER:** The tally is as follows: CHOUJI with 15 slices, SAKURA with 12 slices, SASUKE with 11 slices, and SHIKAMARU, INO, and NARUTO with 10 slices. SHIKAMARU, INO, and NARUTO are disqualified.

Congratulations to the super sleuths out there: **JesterSage**, **Smoking Panda**, and **Hatsukoi**** no Mamouri**.

Let's begin, shall we?

In the beginning, we are given the cheese count for each character. Naruto with four, Sasuke with five, Sakura and Ino each with three, and Shikamaru and Chouji with seven. The rest of it is merely an addition problem, as most of you figured out.

The finalist who had eaten four slices (Naruto) ate three more slices. Raising his cheese count to seven. The finalists who had already eaten three slices (Sakura and Ino) also ate three, bringing up their count to six.

Then there's a finalist who put two pieces of cheese on his plate, but was ONLY seen nibbling one. By his lethargic nature, we can tell that it is Shikamaru. Thus, bringing up his cheese count to eight.

The contestant who was bribed into the competition (none other than Sasuke) doubled his cheese count. He started with five, so that brings him to ten. The SECOND contestant with seven (so it wouldn't be the one mentioned earlier) also doubled his cheese count, making Chouji have fourteen.

Next, a boy with a blonde head eats his eighth piece of cheese. Even if there was another blonde headed boy in the group, it would still be Naruto, because he was the only one to have seven at the time. So Naruto now has eight.

Ino and another contestant start to argue. The person who called her "Ino-pig" has to be Sakura (because honestly, who else calls Ino that?). During their little argument, Sakura first eats two slices. Ino then tops her off by eating two slices more than her, so that would make four slices. Then Sakura eats another slice before Ino summons her boar. So, to sum it all up, Sakura eats three slices, and Ino eats four. Sakura: nine total, Ino: ten total.

Since the pieces of cheese were steadily running out, two contestants started to cheat. The contestant with eight slices (who else but Naruto) stole four slices from Chouji. Sasuke stole two slices from Shikamaru. They both put the slices on their plate, untouched. And then the boar knocks half of each of their cheese to the ground. This means Naruto now has only two slices on his plate, and Sasuke only has one.

During Naruto and Ino's argument, the rest of the contestants start eating like crazy. Sakura eats three slices, Shikamaru eats two, Chouji eats one, and Sasuke eats what's left on his plate, which is also one. Then the totals are as follows:

Sakura: 12

Shikamaru: 10

Chouji: 15

Sasuke: 11

And later, it is revealed that during the argument, and before Naruto's clones showed up, Naruto had the foresight to eat two pieces of cheese. And that was the end of the round. So the final total is:

Naruto: 10

Ino: 10

Shikamaru: 10

Sasuke: 11

Sakura: 12

Chouji: 15

Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru were disqualified. When Shizune announced the results, she and TonTon were quite surprised, because in the three years that the cheese eating competition had been going on, not once has there been three disqualifications at once. She also snickered when she noticed that Sakura ate more pieces of cheese than Sasuke. When the contestants heard the results, Naruto quickly forgot about his disqualification and started to tease Sasuke about losing to Sakura. Of course, Sakura took an entire block of cheese and conked him on the head with it.

As for the rest of the competition, it boiled down to Sasuke and Chouji. Sasuke, fueled by his desire to learn a new move from Kakashi, stole the competition, surprisingly eating more pieces of cheese than Chouji.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, he had a great stomache-ache after all the cheese gorging. And even more unfortunately for Saskue, the "new move" Kakashi decided to teach him was training on how to successfully steal cheese more stealthily.

**The Third Mystery:** **Find the Crimson Four-Leaf Clove--!…oops, wrong story. Well, just find SOMETHING!**


	6. Mystery 3: Just find SOMETHING

**Featured suspects of this chapter:**

Neji: The no-pupiled Hyuuga genius. Another one who prefers to be in solitude…unless he's training of course. A master at the gentle fist and the Byakugan, Neji's not one to be messed with. His desired color is white, which signifies freedom. Which unfortunately, he doesn't have. His summon is a cat. Not the same as Kiba, however; Neji's cat is white. The reason Neji took a cat was because he absolutely abhors birds. Which is, coincidentally, Hinata's summon.

Tenten: The no-surnamed weapon's master. Tenten is always seen with a Kunai, Shuriken, or Senbon. And in buns. She takes no nonsense from anyone and is a very down-to-earth person. She looks up to Neji in a way, and is also his sparring partner sometimes. However, her ultimate role model is Tsunade, the fifth Hokage. She would do anything for her. Her desired color is green and her summon is a bear. A small bear, mind you.

Lee: The no-ninjutsu-ed taijutsu specialist. Lee has a nice, big crush on Sakura, who doesn't seem interested. He looks up to his sensei, Gai, and even wears the same green suit. And the same bowl haircut! For an unknown reason, Lee cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu, and that is why he worked hard to be the best at taijutsu. His desired color is pink (to Sakura's dismay), and his summon is a turtle. A big turtle, mind you. Fear the power of youth! Yooosh!

**Find the Crimson Four-Leaf Clove--!…oops, wrong story. Well, just find SOMETHING!**

Naruto sighed loudly in his seat at the Hokage's Office. The Hokage had called his team and Gai's team for a special mission. Unfortunately, the Hokage was late. Very. Late.

"Kakashi-sensei must be with her," Naruto said out loud.

"I heard that, you brat." Naruto visibly cringed as he heard the Hokage's voice. The said Hokage barged through the open door.

"Tsunade-sama!" Tenten sighed like a fangirl. She was glad that the Hokage had decided to come. First of all, it was TSUNADE. Second of all, she was bored to death with the five other genin in the room. She was so bored she wanted to play darts with her Senbon, but no one else wanted to play. She had sighed and remarked that no one would be able to beat her anyway. No one argued with her.

"Tsunade-sama, why did you call us here today? Is it a mission?" Sakura asked.

Tsunade nodded. "It's…a special mission."

"A special mission?" Lee repeated.

"Yes. Is seems that a representative from the Sand came today. Shizune told me that he wanted to give me a special pendant, to insure where we were standing with them. The pendant is made out of the most valuable rocks in the Sand village."

Naruto jumped up excitedly. Sakura flinched when he made a clinking sound as he did so. "So what do you want us to do? Escort the man back to the Sand? Is it a dangerous A-rank mission where he'll be attacked by random large ninjas?"

Tsunade sighed. "No."

Naruto slumped back into his chair.

"Wait for me to finish. We had a trade back with the Sand too. It is an engraving of the Konoha leaf in a frame."

Naruto snorted. "That's it? The Sand'll never stay allies with us if that's all we're giving."

"Shut up, I didn't finish! The leaf is engraved in pure silver, and the frame is made out of pure gold."

Naruto decided to look elsewhere at that moment.

"Anyway, this was supposed to be a secret trade. But apparently, someone seems to have heard of this pendant and our plaque, and decided to snatch it away from this desk." She pounded on her desk. Everyone flinched. "My OWN desk. The Hokage's desk! The nerve of them!" she yelled to no one in particular.

"Um…Tsunade…sama?" Sakura said, afraid.

The Godaime cleared her throat. "Yes. Right. Well, your mission is to find the thief and bring him back to me, DEAD OR ALIVE!" The genin flinched again.

"Okay, maybe not DEAD. Just…bring him back. It hasn't been too long since he stole them, so he should still be in the village. I have told the guards at the gates not to let anybody outside of the village. At all."

"So what do we get for finding the culprit? After all, this isn't a real mission. I can be out doing something else, like training," Sasuke said.

"You're right, Sasuke. In fact this is more like a D-rank mission. Shizune reported that she didn't see any weapons on the man," Tsunade said.

"Tch. Then why didn't Shizune catch the man instead of watching him walk off with the items?" Neji scoffed.

"It was lunch break. No one was on duty at that time," Tsunade answered simply.

The group stared at her incredulously. But no one wanted to question the Hokage.

"It seems like this man is not from this village. After all, no one in this village dares to oppose me. So you wouldn't find him hiding out in someone's house," Tsunade said. "Shizune also said he was carrying around a strange knapsack. Anyway, I'd rather you all split up and search for him. So this isn't a team effort. You may do it in teams if you'd like, but you'd also have to split up the prize from bringing him in."

"And the prize is?" Lee asked, curious.

"100,000 yen to whoever completes this task," Tsunade said calmly. Everyone's eyes widened.

"Why so much?" Naruto wondered out loud.

"Well these items, are, after all, worth a healthy sum of money. In fact, just one of them is worth more than the prize money itself. But…" she looked at them all with a menacing glare. "…none of you are stupid enough to try to steal these items just because they're worth more, right? You realize that doing so will cause you to automatically become a traitor to the village, right?"

Tsunade stopped to stare at Sasuke for a few seconds longer than the others. He sweatdropped and unconsciously gripped the kunai in his pocket. Everyone nodded.

Tsunade's face broke into a smile. "Good. Now. Off you go."

After a few hours…

Tenten stopped to take a break under a tree. She sighed. "Where could that culprit be? Not only do I need that money, but I want to impress Tsunade-sama as well…"

She stopped talking when she noticed a figure out of the corner of her eye. What's more, the figure was carrying around a knapsack. 'Bingo,' she thought.

Meanwhile…

Naruto had stopped to "take a break" at Ichiraku Ramen. He was slurping up ramen hungrily.

"Hey Naruto," Teuchi said, "you know you'll have to pay for all those bowls eventually, right? It's not common for ramen stands to keep tabs, you know?"

Naruto swallowed. "Yeah, I know, and I'll be paying you in full once I get that prize money for catching a criminal! Oh!" Naruto jumped up in surprise. "Speaking of criminals, I have to go capture him! Just put it on my tab okay? I'll be back soon to pay up!" And with that, he ran off. Teuchi shook his head.

And elsewhere…

"Please Sakura-san! I promise to split the money with you, equally, 50/50! In fact, money is no option for me! I'll take but 25 if you'd like!"

"Oh Lee, you know I'd love to, but…" Sakura paused to think for a second.

'But I want all the money for myself!' Inner Sakura yelled, punching a fist.

"But I want to see how much my training has improved my detecting skills. I'm sorry. I'll partner up with you some other time, alright?" she said sweetly.

Lee nodded. "You're right. Since this is an easy mission, we should test our own skills outside of a team as well. Good thinking, Sakura-san." He looked around the area. "But the thief does not seem to be here. We should search elsewhere. I guess I'll see you later, then!" And he jumped into the trees.

Sakura sighed in relief. She then looked over the town. "Well, the criminal's not here, like Lee said. I'd better get going myself."

At the Uchiha Complex…

Sasuke stood. He didn't want to have to go there, but he figured that since it was deserted, the thief might have chosen the spot as a potential hideout. Hands in his pockets, he searched everywhere for the man. But he couldn't find anyone anywhere at all. And then he gasped.

He quickly turned and flung a kunai behind him. "Who's there?"

He heard a "clink", and he realized that his kunai had been stopped. When he got a better look, he realized who it was.

"Oh it's you. What do you want?"

"Nothing, I'm looking for the thief just like you are. You'd better stay out of my way in catching him, I need that money."

Sasuke stared in disbelief. "Oh? Being serious about this whole stupid thing, are we?"

The other person let out a laugh. "And you're not? Don't tell me you don't want the money."

"And what would I use it for? There's nothing I need. Everything essential is already taken care of. Everything extra is just what is wanted. And I don't have to spend money on things that aren't necessary," Sasuke remarked. "Then again, why am I talking about this to you?"

The other merely shrugged. "I didn't ask for you to go into details about your wants and needs. Anyway, I'm wasting time here. If you're not even serious about this, then there's no use talking to you."

"Tch. Like you would have gotten any information out of me anyway," Sasuke replied. The other person didn't say anything and left.

"Idiot."

Half an hour later…

Tenten still kept in pursuit of the robber. Within the thirty minutes she was following him, he had gone through all the places that were already previously mentioned. She finally got tired of the chasing game and decided to confront him. She waited until he had the potential to be backed into a corner and let herself be known.

"Hey, you!" she said, scaring the man half to death.

"W-what? What…do you want?" he said, voice shaking.

"You stole a pendant and a plaque from the Hokage's Office. I demand that you return them at once and turn yourself in. There's nowhere to hide," Tenten said.

"N-no! I…I did…not…" the man whimpered in his corner.

"No need to lie now..."

"Just a minute, Tenten! He's mine," another voice said. Tenten didn't bother to turn around, for she already knew who it was by the tone of the person's voice.

"Nope, no way. I got this one," she said, not taking her eyes off the cornered man. "Leave now or I'll force you to," she said to the person behind her.

"Really? What are you going to do? Poke me with your Senbon?"

"And what are YOU going to do? Poke me to death?" she countered.

"Tenten, as you know, it is not merely poking, it's…"

But before the person could finish the sentence, someone suddenly came crashing down on Tenten, rendering her unconscious. "Konoha Senpu! I'm very sorry about this, Tenten! But I must have that criminal so I can show Sakura-san how strong I've become, and how my detecting skills have improved!"

"Lee!" the other person said. "Don't make me have to fight you as well."

Lee beamed. "Oh but it would be an honor to fight you!"

"It's not like you've ever beaten me. You will not start here."

Meanwhile, the man stuck in the corner whimpered. "Ex…excuse…me…"

"Yes, please excuse me, if you will!" A Shuriken struck down the person who was arguing with Lee. He did not move after he fell to the ground.

Lee gaped. "I had no idea you played dirty!"

"Yeah well, so did you. Just look at Tenten, why don't you?" the new person said. "The criminal's mine. Be a good guy and get out of the way, Lee."

"Absolutely not!" Lee positioned himself into a fighting stance.

"If you want to play it that way then…"

"…then get out of the way, idiot!" ANOTHER person said, hitting the person who threw the Shuriken with a weapon. The Shuriken wielder fell to the floor in pain.

Lee looked amused. "Ah. So you play dirty as well. I'm telling you now, you are not getting past me."

The man at the corner started to speak again. "H…hey, I…I…"

And then, a voice was heard from around the corner. Lee and the other person couldn't make out who it was or what the person said.

All of a sudden, Lee was stuck stiffly onto the ground. He tried to move, but found that his feet were stuck to the floor. "What the-!"

The other person wasn't able to move as well.

A new person emerged from the shadows.

"Sorry about this."

Triumphantly, the person knocked the poor man in the corner unconscious, and ran to the Hokage's Office to collect the reward of 100,000 yen.

**Who caught the criminal? How? And where? And for extra credit…name all the people who came to the final place in the order of which they came, and what weapons they had (if given).**


	7. Mystery 3 Answer

**ANSWER**: SAKURA caught the criminal with her KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU at the KONOHA HOSPITAL.

Huge congrats for solving this confusing mystery goes to: Rawr the Raptor, and JesterSage (after changing your guess)

The extra credit question:  
1) Tenten with the Senbon  
2) Neji (item unknown, I would have taken the Exploding Note by process of elimination)  
3) Lee with his Special Jutsu, Konoha Senpuu  
4) Naruto with the Shuriken  
5) Sasuke with the Kunai  
6) Sakura with the Kuchiyose no Jutsu

Congrats to: JesterSage, Rawr the Raptor (of course, you two figured out the whole mystery), mention given to encyser and Smoking Panda (although there is no Shikamaru) for getting the order correct, and finally, i aM taMi xPp for almost getting the entire answer right but didn't put the place.

Well this was one doozy of a mystery…anyway, let's get to it!

Early on in the story, when Tsunade is talking with the six, we get indications to what weapons three of the characters have. First is Tenten with her dart-throwing Senbon. And then, when Naruto jumps up, Sakura flinches when she hears a clinking noise, meaning he has either the Shuriken or the Kunai. But later, Sasuke grabs the Kunai in his pocket so Naruto has none other than the Shuriken.

Now it's the matter of taking down places that are accounted for. First, Tenten is shown in an area where there are trees. This can only be outside at the Memorial Block or at the Hokage Monument. She reveals her motive for winning the prize.

Then, Naruto is slurping up ramen at Ichiraku. He also reveals his own motives for winning the prize; paying off his debt to Teuchi.

Elsewhere, Lee had followed Sakura. He wanted to work with her in catching the criminal, and in exchange, he would even split the money 25/75 just to work with her. However, Inner Sakura took over and wanted the money all to herself. So Sakura's motive is shown. Lee's motive is revealed a bit later. They are located in a place where there are trees, and after Lee leaves, Sakura **looks over the town**. So that means she can only be in one place: the Hokage Monuments. And that means that Tenten was at the Memorial Block.

At the Uchiha Complex, Sasuke walks around, looking for the criminal. He throws a Kunai at someone he senses, but the person blocks it with a "clink." There could only be two weapons other than a Kunai that make the clinking sound, and those are the Senbon and Shuriken, so he's either talking with Tenten or Naruto. During the conversation, Sasuke's motives are not shown as to why he would want the prize money. In fact, he went in the opposite direction, saying he doesn't care at all about the prize money. In the end, Sasuke calls the other person an "idiot"…which can still be referred to as anybody.

Finally, Tenten decided to stop the criminal after inspecting his moves. It was mentioned that they already passed through all the places that were previously mentioned, so that rules out: the Memorial Block, Ichiraku Ramen, the Hokage Monuments, and the Uchiha Complex. It also rules out the Hokage's Office since that's where the mission was given out and so it was already mentioned. This means that they are at the Konoha Hospital.

Tenten backs the man into a corner; a dead end in the hospital corridors. Then, all of a sudden, someone else appears. Tenten realizes who it is by the sound of the person's voice. They banter for a few seconds about poking. Tenten makes a remark about the person poking her to death. And then the person talks back, saying that it's not merely poking…then is interrupted. But who would poke someone to death?

That's right. Tenten was making a joke about Neji's Gentle Fist.

When Neji was interrupted, Lee comes crashing down on Tenten with his Special Jutsu, Konoha Senpuu. Tenten is immediately knocked out, and Lee reveals his own motives for capturing the criminal. Then, when Neji threatens to fight him, Lee is ecstatic that Neji would want to have a fight.

Then Naruto comes bursting into the scene with his Shuriken, hitting Neji and rendering him immobile. Lee makes a statement about Naruto playing dirty, but Naruto fights back by telling him what he did to Tenten.

Someone else comes in by hitting Naruto with a weapon. The person calls Naruto an "idiot." This means that the person is none other than Sasuke, who called Naruto an idiot earlier at the Uchiha Complex. Naruto falls.

While the man at the corner whimpers, a voice is heard around the corner, but neither Sasuke nor Lee could tell who it was or what it was the person said. All of a sudden, they cannot move; they are both stuck to the floor.

By process of elimination, the last person is Sakura. The voice they heard was her summoning her slimy slugs, and they used their slug goop to stick Sasuke and Lee to the ground. She mutters an apology to both Sasuke and Lee; Sasuke because he's Sasuke, and Lee again because she refused to work with him earlier. Sakura rendered the criminal unconscious, and carried him over to the Hokage's Office to collect the reward.

_BUT_ she didn't get a reward. When she showed up at the Hokage's Office, Tsunade revealed that Shizune had caught the culprit back at the scene of the crime. It seemed that he was so scared of the wrath of the Hokage that he decided to turn himself in. Sakura looked in shock at the poor man whom she held in her arms. So that's why he kept complaining back at the Hospital; Tenten had spotted the wrong guy.

The poor man was scared to death when he noticed that Tenten was following him, and even more scared when six people started to threaten each other over him. Tsunade glared at Sakura, who merely grinned back, embarrassed. When the six genin confronted each other again, they all apologized to each other and had a good laugh about it afterwards.

By the way…Sasuke and Neji's motives were never revealed as to why they wanted the prize money. When asked about it, they shrugged it off.

But to them, their reasons were clear: Sasuke wanted to be on good terms with the Hokage.

And Neji?

To him, getting the prize money was his fate. Unfortunately, fate apparently didn't work for him this time around. He decided that fate changed it's course during the time of the mission.

When he thought about it to himself, he merely laughed at how stupid that excuse sounded. He wanted the money after all.

**The Fourth Mystery: The Mysterious Maniacal Murder**

**_Coming in three weeks…after my vacation._****_ I decided to post this before I left so I wouldn't leave anyone hanging about the answer. Sorry I didn't give you all as much time as I wanted._**

**Response to Hatsukoi no Mamouri: **Yeah, I know they're supposed to be suspects and all, but I'm basing this more on the books and not the board game. In the books, they had these crazy competitions for money, where they kept trying to kill each other off just to get the prize. I guess you can say these last two mysteries were a warm up for the next one, because the next chapter's a murder mystery, _featuring the **sand siblings**_, so everything should be Clue-ish enough. But thanks for inquiring about it, I love getting feedback from my readers.


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